Phil Us Up!

Believe the Story

I was reminded by a friend of mine a story that I have known since I started going to Bible School many years ago. I can still learn some things from those old childhood stories. We all love the story of David and Goliath. The bravery of little David going out with just a sling and some stones and taking out the big evil Goliath! After David does that we read—“Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines.” I always admired the bravery of David and the “men of Israel”. But wait a minute, in the narrative of the story David has to go out and face the giant because “the men of Israel” were all scared to death! No one in the whole country could be found to take on the Philistine champion, except little David. I read a commentary that says this about 1st Samuel 17. “They shouted of a victory to which they had contributed nothing except six weeks of cowardice.”

Now wait a minute, these cowards still experienced victory over the Philistine but only by getting behind God’s chosen one, David. Victory was theirs! I can just see the men of Israel, “come on guys, we got em on the run now!” The whole nation celebrated because victory was theirs.

Same story, second verse for us, Satan comes, shouts threats, and we are scared. The young man, Jesus shows up, and says I’ll take him on. Jesus wins, Satan loses, we shout victory as if we have won, and we have because we are in Christ, buried with him in baptism. He fought, we won. Now I have to believe the story! Have a great week! philip